


A Queen, A Mayor, and A Savior

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-08-08 04:03:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 9,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7742617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When crushing her evil self's heart doesn't take, Regina has to face her past while hoping for the future, and Emma's place in that is between the mayor and the queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

    When the Evil Queen, in full Enchanted-Forest-esque get up, whirls into her empty Sheriff's office, Emma tries not to blink. She hadn't felt easy about Regina destroying... Regina... And it didn't look like the heart-crushing stuck this time – if the Queen staring at her was any indication. 

    "You don't _look_ surprised to see me, Ms. Swan." The Queen tongued the scar atop her lip, slow and deliberate, before continuing, "As a matter of fact, you don't even look scared of me." The caricature of Regina laughed- a stutter in her eye drawing cleavage Emma swore she didn't see. "Why is that?"

 

    Emma's eyes flicked up to the Queen's as she stepped further into the office, all high chin and high hair- Emma doesn't need reminding that this isn't her Regina– _Isn't_ _Regina_ – but the Queen's eyes are still as mesmerizing. Like Regina's, but darker almost; and she never looks away under Emma's piqued interest. 

   "I've actually met you before. Well-" Even if Emma considered herself articulate she figured her life would be difficult to articulate. "In the Enchanted Forest." The giant jewel at the base of the Queen's throat drew Emma's eye-

     "Oh, _really_." Regina fingered the crystal, drawing Emma's attention back up to her face, as she stepped closer and shortened the distance between them to just mere breaths of space.

     "I don't know. Guess you're just not as scary as you think, your _majesty_." Emma started to curtsy, facetiously- and the Queen caught her by her tilted chin; stopping time for Emma Swan. Warm fingers- Regina's fingers- heat nearly touching her lips were all Emma could think about, staring into the face of the Queen. 

     "Well then, Ms. Swan. You are more foolish than I even anticipated." A dark purple plume curled around Emma. 

     Rolling her eyes at Regina's still-dramatic other half and empty office, helped Emma catch her breath and recover, before dialing the mayor's office. 

    "Regina?" Emma breathed into her desk phone.

     "Emma? What is it?" And _it_ \- is Emma momentarily thinking to herself that of all the differences between Regina and the Evil Queen, their contrast in voices seemed most striking. 

    There was a silent beat that Regina found irritating. 

     "The Queen is back."


	2. Chapter 2

     Facing Rumple had been calculated; each time a slight give and take, a familiar exchange because he would never make a true enemy out of her, even when that was all they were. Facing her mother, Regina had faltered, at nearly every step. Hearts were exchanged, tears and similar blood spilt in futile anguish when she could even stomach it, and even now Regina wasn't sure she wasn't sorry for those things. Facing Emma had finally been the battle with good Regina had been running towards her entire life; the opportunity to shake its' hand and spit in its' face that  _she didn't need it._ But of course she had needed good; losing to Emma, if it even was a loss, had been the first step to a real life for Regina in a long time.   
  
    Facing herself? Storybrooke had been that battleground everyday. Every time Regina got coffee in  _Granny's_ and no one met her eyes, every time she stopped herself from taking Henry by the hand and  _just taking him home with her_ , and every time Snow had gotten just a little too under her skin. Every time she was reminded about happiness that even now, even still she knew she'd never be afforded. That was when she'd beat back the Evil Queen. That was where she'd won against herself.   
  
   Presented with the physical manifestation, one that she had already thought she had killed, Regina felt decidedly less sure.   
  
  
   "We just have to... figure out what she wants." Emma was leaning against the kitchen counter, looking at home in Regina's home. She hadn't elaborated much on the Evil Queen's appearance; apparently there hadn't been much to tell.   
  
   "I know what she wants; I am  _her_ , remember." Instantaneously Regina felt bad for almost snapping at Emma, and that was a small victory she could hold on to, too. "I'm sorry. She wants... She wants what I always wanted. Family. Love." Regina flicked her hair from her face; it was easier to talk about pretending it was someone else entirely. A  _She_ to be conquered. Which  _she_ was; but Regina could still understand that. That kind of isolation and loneliness...well, it didn't explain anything, it still didn't excuse either Queen's actions; but Regina could still  _remember_ it. She saw Emma's face soften.   
  
    If either of them were the hugging type, Emma would have wanted to hug Regina. Remind her that she  _isn't_ the Evil Queen, except maybe she is but maybe that doesn't matter because she's also the good Regina, who  _has_ struggled for her family's love. Who  _has_ a family.   
  
  
  
  
   "Am I  _interrupting_ , dears?" In a flourish of magic, Regina was confronted with herself, in her own kitchen. The Queen was back, after all. "Ms. Swan, good to see you again." Letting her eyes rake over Emma purposefully, the Queen turned her attention back to her  _better_ half. "This looks cozy, doesn't it?"  
  
   Regina recognized herself, in all her  ~~former~~ glory. If there was a god testing her for righteousness, for anything, she half-hoped to make him squirm a bit. "Hair's a  _bit_ much, don't you think?"   
  
   It's mere seconds before she's sent reeling without physical contact. Across the kitchen floor, tossed back sliding into her own cabinets, ending with a  _slam_ she's sure she'll feel tomorrow. In addition to battling her own personality,  _of course_ she'd be fighting her own magic. It was thrillingly and intoxicatingly aggravating. The sheer impulse, the quick reaction. It was  _exactly_ the Queen as Regina remembered.  
  
    "Regina!" Emma regrets the exasperation in a moment when both dark heads spin to her; different, uneasy glares both fixed on her. Keeping one hand thrown out towards the Queen, fingers splayed, ready to fire, the other tends to  ~~her~~   _Storybrooke's_ Regina, helping her up and visually checking for any noticeable damage, not of the ego-kind.   
  
    "Easy,  _Savior._ " The word drips easy off the Queen's tongue, and Emma recognizes a personal dig when she hears one; especially from Regina. Mocking and complimenting at once. How did either Regina manage to do that? "How do you even know I came here to  _fight?"_   The Queen smiled radiantly, chillingly, eyes full of manic focus set in perfectly plumped lashes.   
  
    Regina's hand is still slung over Emma's shoulder, their bodies in close contact, and Emma feels like she's under some sort of microscope, with the hot lights all trained on her. Trying to keep still for Regina, and still be ready from an attack from well.. the Queen, and she's all too aware of how Regina's weight feels familiar; from that time with the fire.   
  
   "My, my, you two  _are_ close." The Queen's eyes take in Emma's easy bare feet on the kitchen tile, the way her _offensive_ , red leather jacket is thrown haphazardly over the dining room chair, the way Regina's hand over Emma's shoulder  _clung_ even when the blow shouldn't have been so devastating. The Queen keeps a gloved finger between her teeth for a moment, still caught in a half-smile, before the pang of confused jealousy wins no contest.    
  
    Regina's facing her own magic again, in the same strange way, when the errant wave of the Queen's hand sends her across the room, knocking her down again. Emma caught herself this time, kept Regina's name in her throat, as the Queen stepped towards her.   
  
   There was a still moment, where Regina could bet the Queen was deciding what to do next. She remembered that feeling; charting a course you were already on, weighing your very limited options, pretending the entire chessboard was yours from the beginning. When Regina had been the Evil Queen, even the layered, complex version of her, it was true she'd desired love before she ever desired vengeance, even if one was easier to admit to.  _That's the problem with complexity,_ Regina rubbed her back where she'd been thrown yet  _again_.  _It's always frighteningly simple._  
  
    Snapping back into motion, the Queen charged her last step towards Emma, capturing her face in her gloved hand. Not the heated graze of the other day, but a trained hand pinching at skin and bone. Velvet ground into her cheeks, and she made herself keep still; Emma remembered the queen of the Enchanted Forest, the voyeur who loved chaos and pain, and she bit back the squeak that threatened under the Queen's fingers.   
  
    "Couldn't you just  _eat her up,_ dear?" Her head turned slightly, calling back to a distanced Regina, but the Queen's eyes never left Emma's, that manic focus still trained on the beloved Savior.   
  
    "Emma." Clear blue eyes blinked to  _her_ Regina, for a fractional second, before the grip on her face tightened even harsher, demanded even more of her.   
    
     " _Em-ma."_ The Evil Queen mocked them both, and again Emma was distracted by their differences of voice. Faces just inches apart, Emma braced herself against the counter and used magic and force to throw the Queen off of her, sending her back towards Regina. The Queen recovered though, a tongue of magic righting her and strengthening her back into Emma's space and focus. "I told you I didn't come here to fight, dear. But you Charmings always keep it interesting." Pulling roughly by Emma's t shirt collar, space between them disappeared, replaced by tongue and heat and regret and  _want_. Kissing the Queen  _tingled_ Emma, like drowning in ice water, it was painful and shocking until it wasn't- until it was just happening.  
  
    When Emma pushed away again, because she had to push away, she'd the entire time been meaning to push away, her eyes opened to the vault, not the Mayor's kitchen. The tingle in Emma's lips lingered a second, until her brain remembered to be disgusted, to be horrified, to be...Well, of course she was flustered, of course she was taken aback. The Evil Queen had just kissed her, with tongue. Emma swore she could still taste dark lipstick on her teeth. She swore her tongue didn't look for it.   
  
    "Welcome, Ms. Swan. I  _do_ hope you'll be happy here." The Queen flashed that smile again, a million concerning watts radiating from that smile. 


	3. Chapter 3

     The Queen's taunting had been pretty brief, after the intial _shock_ of it all.   
       
    "You'll have to let me go, eventually, you know." Crossing her arms across her chest, Emma kept distance between herself and the Queen. She didn't feel endangered, but she didn't feel...safe, exactly. And there was that whole technically kidnapped element that had Emma biting back jokes about Stockholm even in her head.   
  
     "Will I, now? And who are  _you_ to a  _Queen,_ dear _?_ _"_ This Regina smiled with her eye-teeth showing, all pearly sin and wicked joy. There was something unbridled Emma didn't recognize.  
  
     Emma eventually drifted off, slumped against the cold, hard, corner of the vault. For awhile she'd contemplated what the Queen could want with her here, what she could want with her at all. There was the possibility of just a rule of chaos, of getting back at Regina, of getting back at Snow White... The kiss kept confusing her, though, and her thoughts walked back to it every time. She'd shook those thoughts away for simple ones; how the Queen being here with her meant Henry was safe, how _her_ Regina was the strong Regina, the one who would survive this because she always survived before. Emma could still taste Regina's lips- the Queen's lips- she could still taste her tongue. Even as she fell asleep Emma let the world drift dark with complicated thoughts about motivations and simple thoughts about lust. They hadn't sprang up out of nowhere like weeds through concrete, but she wasn't going to dare unroot that line of thought in this vault. Especially not with the right Regina. When Emma sleeps, it's fitfully and almost bitterly, and she fights it for as long as possible.  
  
  
xxx  
  
  
     Snow and David looked ever on-edge, ever looking to be soothed, preferably by a 5'5"-ish, blonde, savior of a daughter. But Henry looked calm, if not entirely at ease.   
  
     "She's not gonna hurt, _Mom_ , Mom." Henry froze Regina's pacing around dawn, with a look of complete faith she recognized on him. None of them had gotten any sleep, trying to figure out the best way to save the savior. "She just wants to love her, right? She just  _doesn't know how,_ remember, Mom?" With a suggestive eyebrow up, Henry held his mother's hand, a living memory of her small son, even as he grew to be older and more like  _both_ of his mothers.   
  
     "But why  _Emma_?" Snow disrupted the moment, with questions Regina didn't- couldn't answer. Not yet anyway, not if she was going to be able to fight the Queen, and win. For that she would need strength, and a little bit of anger. She ignored Snow White, and tried to tap into old feelings. She shuddered how  _easy_ it all was to bring back.   
  
     That heady, white-knuckle-inclined, unbridled rage tensed Regina's fists. Maybe it was good, she told herself, to be this angry, again. If it helped her understand the Queen better. If it helped to fight her, destroy her. At her most powerful, Regina remembered feeling the most unstable. Teetering on a self-built pedestal of uncontrolled lashing out, at anything, at everything. Regina imagined it would be worse for this Queen; _with_ this Queen, she minded. Emma had been missing since the night before, and with the sun up now, Regina _felt_ it was sooner better than later to go collect her savior.   
  
     Of course, it would be the vault.   
  
     "Why, Regina, what kept me waiting? Afraid to face me?" Regina had stormed in the vault, full of petty bravado, but faced with the caricature of herself pouting at her, in a dress leaving almost nothing to the imagination, Regina's mind spun, angry still. Fists full of fire, Regina scanned for Emma, and then let her tightened fists dissolve magical fireballs. Finally deciding to just launch herself at the Queen, Regina pushed hard on shoulders that mirrored hers, knocking them both to the ground, shocking them both unwittingly.   
  
     It's Emma's voice that rings out, Emma's voice that shouts, " _Stop!"_  before either Regina really has a handle on what's happening.   
  
     


	4. Chapter 4

     "Now, now,  _better_ half, listen to your savior." The Queen pouted dark lips, pushing Regina away, and as both Reginas smoothed their skirts, Emma could've laughed.  _Could've_ , if not for a million other details about this scenario and all the things she felt unsure about exactly then.   
  
     "Emma, I'm sorry she's hurt you-" Regina's hand reached for Emma's shoulder, too tender for a second until the contact broke. The flinch in Regina's voice stung Emma, too. She was ready to apologize for the Queen, like she'd done nearly perpetually since trying to change her life in Storybrooke.   
  
    "Actually, she hasn't." Emma winced. It'd been a long night, a complicated one, but Emma didn't feel  _harmed_ , she mostly felt confused. She hadn't gotten anywhere close to the Queen revealing anything about why she had taken her here in the first place. It'd been poof, flourish, and hurry up and wait. Aside from a few barbed comments, and light-goading Emma was almost-impressed the Queen hadn't fallen for....they'd hardly even really spoken. Emma had tried though. She swore it wasn't the kiss, but she was interested in knowing the Queen. Emma Swan The Dark One had been hard to understand, hard to live through, and still was, and Emma was curious about how darkness, real darkness, not just kisses and purple smoke looked on Regina. She'd heard the stories of course, hushed whisperings in Granny's, some admissions from Regina herself, but the Queen said next to nothing about her past-and-present evil persona. Aside from Henry, the Queen hadn't seemed like she wanted to chat at all- and Emma wasn't sure how much information about Henry she could share with the Queen, and how much put their family at risk. If Emma was honest, it stirred up uncomfortable feelings about co-parenting for her. She'd finally gotten used to, comfortable even, with sharing her son with Regina- as  _their_ son, and she wasn't sure she could really stomach sharing him with a wholly Evil Queen.   
  
     "Aren't either of you  _listening_? I don't want to  _fight you_ or  _hurt you_ ," The Queen spat her words, "I only  _want_ to have what is rightfully  _mine._ _My_ family."  
  
     "You're not coming one gloved  _finger_ closer to Henry." Regina snarled, world threatened and in flux, looking to Emma again. "C'mon, Emma, let's _go_."   
  
     Regina's fingers splayed, ready to fire magic at the twitch of one evil  _brow quirk_ , but none came. The Queen almost looked kind of sad.   
  
     "Rescuing the Savior? Precious, the way you two really dis-spell those tired tropes, don't you think? Maybe it's true, Emma Swan can make a hero out of anyone." The Queen eyed Regina. "After all, I merely wanted to see if she could do the same for me, you know. The full Savior-treatment." She shrugged. "Guess I'll have to settle for being wicked." A smile played on her lips as she let an exaggerated faux sigh escape.   
  
    "Well- wait? That's why you brought me here? To what-  _tutor you_ in good choices? In case you haven't noticed, lately I'm-" Emma started.  
  
     " _Emma_. We should  _go._ " Regina closed the space between them, talking close to Emma, looking at her hard. Trying to remind herself what absolute  _nonsense_ that sounded like from the Evil Queen; the only thing she'd ever truly loved was chaos, even when she'd hated herself it'd protected her. And now it protected the Queen, even at Emma's self-doubt. Regina didn't want to notice the way the Queen's eyes glittered over Emma, how the only time they softened was when she spoke- it was  _possible_ it was imagined, but Regina didn't think so. It was disturbing to see, disturbing to feel or even to  _imagine_ to feel, Regina could convince herself it was only imagined. The Queen's attention to Emma made Regina feel like she was intruding- which was ridiculous because it was  _her_ vault and  _her_ Emma- well, Storybrooke's Emma.   
  
     The Queen caught Emma's arm as she turned towards Regina, and Emma felt trapped between them both too close- like all the air in the vault was suddenly too hot to breathe for some reason, the Queen's fingers all tension wrapped around her arm. Memories of the unexplained kiss tingled Emma in that odd way she still wasn't consciously acknowledging, and Regina couldn't tear her eyes away from the hand on Emma's arm either.   
  
     "Ms. Swan, I must beg you to stay. If I've been inhospitable or  _confusing,_ it's to be explained by my own confusion. You see, I simply don't know how to go about this. I want my son," Her lips curled darkly around the words, widening Regina's eyes. "And if I need to pass your little righteous litmus test, very well.  _Tutor me_ , in  _being good._ "   
  
      "You've got to be kidding me," Regina didn't hold back a scoff. "Neither one of us are so naive-"  
  
     "I'll stay." Emma met Regina's eyes slowly, and already she told herself they were starting to look less dissimilar from the Queen's. Emma thinks of a million words to  _explain_ to Regina, that wouldn't sound right in front of the Queen, and ultimately she can't think of any explanation at all, really. She hopes Regina knows she doesn't  _trust_ the Queen, not at all, Emma knows herself that she doesn't necessarily think that this Evil Queen is even capable of changing- but something about wanting to be good for Henry rings true, even familiar, and Emma can only jump at what sounds like a second chance she doesn't realize she's been wanting.   
  
     "Emma," Regina's voice is soft, softer than she likes, and Emma can't help but squeeze her hand. Regina thinks about how in her darkest days, darkest hours, before the curse, before Storybrooke, and Emma and especially before Henry, when all there was in the world was pain and hurt and suffering, by her hand and not. And she knows this Queen in front of them has had both worlds, remembers Henry scraping his knee at six years old and sobbing into her shoulder, and for a moment she contemplates whether this Queen could conceptualize a life without vengeance or hollow pain. Regina decides a swift, resounding  _no,_ and hopes her eyes communicate that to Emma. She hopes Emma has a plan, something beyond what it looks like.   
  
      "Well. Lesser of two evils, prepare to meet your match." The Queen blew a kiss at Regina, that unfurled into swirls of purple magic, before Regina reacted.   
  
     She found herself back in the town square, without Emma, without confidence, and felt much sorrier for everything she couldn't even imagine happening yet. 


	5. Snake at Rest

    "It's been  _days-_ nearly a week, I just don't understand what they're  _doing_." Snow watched from across the street, stared really, at Emma and the Evil Queen eating breakfast in the window at Granny's. They looked cordial; Emma looked quite well, Snow watched her smile at Regina's caricature in an almost-easy fashion. The Queen, for her part, still  _looked_ like the Evil Queen- maybe a bit modernized; less corset, more spanx.   
  
  
  
  
     "I'm going to turn her into a frog." The Queen sipped coffee from her mug in the diner, tossing glances towards Snow every few seconds.   
  
     "She's just  _worried_. They're all worried. I mean, technically I'm like your... hostage, right?" Emma chuckled into her coffee, an awkward laugh to fight the brand of  _weird_ everyone in Granny's was currently being. Thinking hard, Emma tried to remember if it was like this before, for Regina. Everyone on eggshells, ready for the Queen to snap her jaws around them like a snake at rest. Nodding to no one, Emma figured it probably had been rather uneasy in the beginning. With a wave to her mother across the street, Emma drew the Queen's glare. "You want a family? They're kind of it."   
  
     "I don't  _want_ Snow White, that much should be obvious to even you." The Queen pursed her lips, about done with the way everyone in Storybrooke was averting their gaze and swallowing their tongues. As the Queen, that had been fun; terrifying the villagers, setting the peasants' hearts abeat with fear. But here, it's another reminder that she's not  _Regina_   _the Good._ She rolled her eyes. "I just want Henry to..." To  _what?_ Wasn't that the question?  
  
    At Emma's wide smile, the Queen relented.   
  
    "Henry's different. He's... more forgiving, you know? For whatever reason, he sees the good in us. You, too." Emma remembered a smiling, smaller boy, giving both of his mothers a chance at goodness- at happiness. Hell, he'd been the first person ever to put their faith in her, too, and even if he'd been too small to know the difference, Emma sighed, not even wanting to imagine where she'd be without him. "He's not the one you have to win over." She warned.   
  
    "Oh yeah, because you're putting up such a fight. Ms.Swan, you're having morning coffee with the Evil Queen. By all means, tell me you're the standard bearer for the righteous and _then_ pass me the sugar." The Queen smiled gently, without teeth. It's been a long few days, long talks, mostly. With the would-be princess of her old land. And every time someone in this diner side-eyes her, the Queen had to swallow the tendency to incinerate them. Maybe being good... wasn't for her.   
  
     "Hey, I'm still a hostage, your majesty. Just because you've been sharing your dark, twisted past of torching villages and curse-scheming doesn't mean you have  _my_ forgiveness. But you don't  _need_ mine, remember? Henry's you'll get, because he sees Regina in you. He sees the good you  _could_ be, at least to him. It's Regina you have to win over; her forgiveness, her acceptance. Trust me, she can make a formidable enemy." Tapping her fingers against the edge of the table, Emma felt like the cage door was open- so why was she still inside?  
  
    "I remember wanting to crush you. If we'd met first when I had my magic, I'd be having breakfast with a pile of ashes." The Queen shrugged her shoulders; meeting Emma Swan had changed everything, changed everything in Storybrooke, everything in Regina and the Evil Queen. Of course, the curse broke, and blah blah ancient history, but blonde hair and angry, blue eyes had been the beginning of a new Storybrooke, and a new story. "Sorry. It's just... Regina  _made_ me, and then tried to destroy me. I protected her, from Cora, from Snow,  _I_ was the one that saved her before you came along, you know."  
  
     Turning her head to glance across the street, Snow and Regina still stood, watching from afar. Monitoring, checking her for signs of Evil. After all, Regina would be the one to recognize it. Snow would be the one to categorize and ostracize it. And eventually, forgive it it's sins. Regina fanned the flames of evil, flirted with darkness until it overcame her, and now- now she wouldn't forgive it? Wouldn't look past it?   
  
     "You also killed everything she could've loved." Emma prodded, gently.  
  
     "Not everything," The Queen winked, remembering Emma Swan charging up the mayoral walkway without a hint of fear. "You're free to go, Ms. Swan."  
  
    "Emma." Clearing her throat, Emma stood, slowly. "And I knew that. I just wanted to finish my muffin. It's not... going to get easier, you know." She sighed, and maybe the good parts of Regina really were in there, because to Emma, the Queen almost looked sorry.   
  
     


	6. Reflections in Darkness

     Regina breathed a heavy sigh, when Emma left Granny's, strolling across the street with easy strides. The purple cloud that lingered a second or two in the diner said the Evil Queen had  _poofed_ , for now, and that made Regina breathe easier, too.   
  
     "Well?" Regina blurted at Emma's entrance, checking her for any obvious signs of injury- maybe a large, gaping head wound that would explain Emma just casually going for breakfast- or a missing heart. With a rush of heat to her cheeks, Regina blocked all memory of the Evil Queen kissing Emma back at the mansion.   
  
     "Well... She's still not a big Snow White fan, but guys, I think she's honestly willing to do whatever to be... accepted, sort of. She's not... sorry, exactly, I don't think that's it- I don't, think she's all that capable, but I think she's willing to  _try_ to do better." Emma shrugged, slightly discouraged by Regina's set scowl.   
  
     "You spent five days with the funhouse mirror, and that's it? You believe her? All she wants is what- a second chance?" Riled, Regina threw up her hands, shaking her head. "She's the  _Evil Queen_ , doing better is managing not to burn entire villages; if she doesn't kill us all in our sleep it'll be a step up for her morally." Biting her lip, Regina tried to bite back some of her impatience. "Look, Emma, I  _know_ her," Regina pleaded. "I  _was_ her- there has to be something else going on here," Turning away, Regina bought herself a second of silent privacy from Snow's concerned face.   
  
     "But what about my superpower?" Emma's voice cut careful silence, and she couldn't help but smile when Regina turned back to face her. "So maybe I didn't get the  _whole_ truth," Emma conceded, "but every word she did tell me, was truthful."   
  
     The woman put the Evil in  _the Evil Queen,_ Emma had her reservations, of course; but none so much as Regina's face splayed.   
  
     "So what, you're saying she just lives in the vault here, and we give her a chance? You'll never forget what she's done to you, what she's done to all of you..." Regina shook her head. "Even if she  _was_ capable of change-"  
  
    "I did terrible things as the Dark One, things I can never make up for, being the Savior doesn't fix them, doesn't make any of that okay," Emma sighed, remembering the cold, clammy hands of dark magic tugging her deeper into itself. Emma fought a shiver, remembering feeling a deep nothingness, for months. And she fought another shiver, remembering that Regina spent years of her life like that; alone, angry, and without hope. "No one  _forgot_ but..."  
  
    Looking to her mother, Emma braved a smile.  
  
     Regina remembered, with perfect clarity, days where she looked into Emma Swan's eyes and found no trace of the woman she knew. Regina remembered days as the Evil Queen, when her mind would cut even itself on it's own sharp edges, where there was next to nothing but pain, horror, and chaos.   
  
     "I just thought I could finally be free, of all her pain, and grief, and destruction," Regina spoke mostly to herself, crossing her arms over her chest. For the first time in a near eternity, Regina's shoulders felt lighter for not being the Evil Queen. Exchanging that weight for literally facing her... the prospect didn't seem enticing.   
  
     "You can be," Emma smiled, still hopeful, for whatever reason. "Where's Henry now?" She looked between Snow and Regina.   
  
     "Home, I didn't want him to-" Cutting herself off, Regina recognized contemplation on the Savior's face.  
  
     "Emma?" Snow prompted.   
  
     "I mean... she's still the  __Evil Queen," Emma shrugged, looking to Regina before they left to check on their son.


	7. Facing Evil

    Henry’s safe. In his room, they find him safe and sound, relieved to have both of his mothers back, even with a caricature of a third still intown. Contrary to the low-hum, natural frequency of ever-present danger Storybrooke usually provided, days passed without incident, without threat. Without the appearance of evil.   
  
    More than once, Regina was tempted, to drop by the vault- ultimately put off the mission by not knowing what to expect, or what to hope for.   
  
    Standing at her mirror, fretting over an unruly wave of her hair, Regina heard the familiar rush of magic behind her and sighed. It was better than waiting for the royal shoe to drop, at least, she figured. Lips pursed into a straight line, Regina looked behind her in the mirror.  
  
    “I was wondering when you’d make an appearance.” Fixing her bangs, with her eyes still in the mirror, Regina couldn’t help but make the side-by-side comparison. The curve of their mouths, the lines of their eyes… matches in every odd way. And of course, completely different.  
  
    “Worried about me?” The Queen crossed her arms with a false smile. That too, Regina recognized.  
  
    “Hardly. What did you say to Emma?” Eyes flicking through the mirror to the Queen’s face again, and it’s every nightmare to have the Evil Queen back over her shoulder. There isn’t fear, only annoyance. Only burden. Only reminders of bad memories, and bad deeds done.  
  
    “Don’t worry, dear. I didn’t tell the Savior anything _you_ wouldn’t.” With a roll of her eyes, the Queen stepped from the mirror’s view, touring her own old room, stepping around her old life- Regina’s life. “Why do you continue to love her quietly? Not _all_ your suffering is mine, Regina.” The Queen’s voice scolded, sounding more like Cora to Regina, and that was enough.   
  
    With a sharp turn of her head, Regina locked eyes with the Queen, both of them all but baring clean, white teeth at each other.  
  
   “You don’t know _anything_ about that.” Regina clamped calm over her anger, leaving only balled fists and terse, clipped tone to betray her fury.  
  
    “Don’t I?” The Queen laughed, shaking her head. “Girl loves boy, boy gets killed by girl’s mother, girl feels sad. Girl loves girl, girl… waits? That’s not us, Regina.” Stepping closer, the Queen reached a hand out to her better half, and sighed with contempt when Regina ignored the gesture.  
  
    “That’s not _you,_ and in case you haven't seen a mirror lately, we aren't the same,"Regina warned. Losing Daniel, losing Robin… those losses hurt, that pain had nearly killed her. Losing Emma had once been a goal, and now, now it was unthinkable. Impossible. The whole thing was impossible; foolish, even, Regina reminded herself. ”Besides, you don’t know anything about love.”  
  
    “That’d be convenient for you, wouldn’t it?” The Queen bit out, almost reaching for Regina, again. “You know, you can fool the common folk, Snow White and her ilk, but we know each other, Regina. I always _was_ the better lover, dear.” Voice suppressed by innuendo and uneasy anger, the Queen spoke low.  
  
    “Don’t you dare-” Regina started, and was promptly cut off by a wave of the Queen’s hand stealing her voice.  
  
    “Enough. I’m not here about your petty crush,” Punctuating with a flare of her eyebrows, the Queen rolled her eyes again. “Haven't you been wondering what I've been doing locked in your dark, damp, little dungeon of misfit secrets? I’ve been working on something that concerns you and the stooges.”   
  
    Without her voice, in exasperation Regina plucked a hair brush off her vanity and flung it at the Queen, who swatted it away.  
  
    “Seriously?” The Queen levelled eyes with Regina before a swipe of her hand released Regina’s voice.   
  
    “Really? Stealing from _Ursula’s_ magic book, again?” Regina cleared her throat. “I _knew_ Emma couldn’t be right about you- all you do is scheme and undermine and des-”  
  
    “I want to separate us. Our fates.” The Queen cut Regina off, bored of battling a better version of herself. “You’ve already tried to destroy me, remember? Did you think I’d forget about that? Why should  I wait around for you and Mr. and Mrs. Tweedle Dee, and their darling daughter, to try again.” The Queen’s face turned feral, and Regina faced her ugliest reflection, yet. Threatened evil.  
  
    “It’s not like it _took_ ,” Regina pointed out, with a scoff. “And you crushed me, every day.” Her voice went softer of it’s own volition, but the accusation bore through.  
  
    “I kept you alive, and this is the thanks I get.” The Queen snarled, throwing up her hands, not about to face accusations from a version of herself, too. “Besides, sounds like we both get what we want, this way. Separation.”  
  
    Contemplating for a moment, Regina turned the prospect over in her mind. True freedom, no Evil Queen to contend with… what would that even look like?  
  
    “How does it concern my family?” Regina blinked back a stupid, hot tear, welling in her eye.  
  
    “Our family.” The Queen stepped closer, swiping the tear off Regina’s chin with her thumb.


	8. Left Holding the Matches

     "That's really all she wants?" Emma's mouth set skeptically, mulling over the idea and the half-baked plan. Since the Queen returned, she'd spent more time with her than anyone, and she'd never mentioned splitting their fates. "What would that... mean for you?"

     Regina inhaled an uncertain breath, daring to think past the Evil Queen, for the first time in ages. Once the Queen had explained her plan, explained how she planned to cut Regina the Good from the Evil Queen, how they'd be separated; Regina didn't want to egg on false hope, she didn't want to be disappointed, again. But the plan seemed like it would really work, it would really sever the tie between her and her darker self; and what would that mean for both of them?

     "It means I finally get to let go of her." Regina decided, all but ready to get the scissors of fate snip-snip-snipping. "She finally lets go of _me_ ," She corrected, and it was hard not to smile at the thought. "And then, then, we can destroy her."

     After the Evil Queen shared her plan, Regina spent the night awake, pacing; why would the Evil Queen show her hand, after all this time? But with their fates severed, Regina figured the Queen planned on taking her out- on taking her family, this time by force. "She wants to be the one Regina, by splitting us into separate halves, we're halfway- but if we're separate _wholes_..." Regina trailed off, unmentionable possibilities left unmentioned. "I told you, Emma, you tried but- there's no saving that kind of Evil." Shaking her head, Regina sighed. How much good in the world had already been snuffed out trying to change her when she'd truly been Evil?

     "It's... it's your choice." Emma nodded; Regina had earned freedom from her past, she was sure of that. But if destroying the Queen hadn't taken once, Emma was doubtful they should try again, especially since the Queen had been playing... well, relatively nice since then. While she'd been the Dark One, Emma felt that cold, inviting sensation- that darkness creeping into her bones, and the darkness in her had welcomed it. But it was a part of her now, a part of her story. She couldn't imagine cutting the Dark One's past out of her good self. "But..."

     Regina's eyes snapped to Emma's, waited on her next, carefully chosen words.

     "It is your choice, you need to do what's best for... both of you," Emma's voice felt dry, too dry. "But she, she's been a part of you for so long... do you think, you'll be able to just..." Miming a cut of the scissors, Emma shrugged, unsure of her place in this conversation.

     "You can't seriously be saying you think it's better we keep the Evil Queen?" Regina frowned her disbelief. "She's... she's told you of her past, of burning the villages, of reaping the benefits of shrewd cruelty, of cursing this entire town, including your parents," Swallowing the apology she felt rise in her throat, Regina licked her lips, eyes still trained to Emma's. "As long as... she's a factor, those bad things will always... be a part of who I am. You, and Henry, and even Snow, and almost the rest of this town may be able to forgive that, may be able to eventually look past that, and love me anyway, but..." _But I can't_ , Regina held back; forced the ridiculous thought down to the back of her mind, tucking it away from even herself. "But this way, it'll be better." Smoothing her hand down Emma's arm, Regina tried to reassure them both.

    The kiss, between Emma and the Queen, came as a sick reminder- that they'd shared that physically, and _days_ of close-contact; some mockery of intimacy. Regina jutted her chin at the thought, that in mere days Emma had discovered the _soft_ side of Evil; the Queen practically mocked her in her own head, still. _No_ , she pulled her arm back from Emma's, clasping her hands together. It was exactly why the Queen needed to be separated for good, and cut out of her like the cancer she was. Everything that woman loved turned to ash, Regina reminded herself, and she'd always been the one left holding the matches.

     Eyes still on Emma, Regina let some of the tension in her body go slack- that soon, maybe this would all be over; she would finally, finally, be able to live free of her own dark shadow.


	9. Good Enough

  
     "You're going to let her do it, aren't you?"

     Emma turned, to see the Queen standing in her office doorway; dark purple train trailing behind her.

     " _Well_?" The Queen snapped, charging a step closer. "You're going to let her try to kill me?" The words left the Queen's mouth aggressively, slipping through her red-coated lips like daggers. "So I'm really nothing to be saved after all; even by my own Savior," She scoffed.

     Shifting her weight between her feet, Emma tried to look through the Evil Queen; past the plunging necklines, past the sharp fingernails, past the kiss- and still saw her anger, still saw her hatred, but deep in her eyes, Emma thought she could still see something else, something softer.

     "Cutting your fates was your idea, and how are we supposed to know you won't try to kill her?" Rubbing an eyebrow, Emma could've laughed at the absurdity; the Evil Queen, looking for saving.

     "Oh I see, you protect your precious mayor, and I'm the dark secret she sweeps under your rug." The Queen nodded, with heat in her cheeks. "The pair of you really do deserve each other," The Queen spat out. The stolen glances, the soft words of enthusiasm; the Queen rolled her eyes. It was all so sweet, all so juvenile, and all so painfully slow to watch.

     "What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Digging her nails into her palms, Emma measured her breathing like she had when she'd first gotten her magic; she measured her breathing, and measured her emotions. 

     "Oh please; both of you are just as afraid of me as you are of losing me, and isn't that it, then? Isn't that just too confusing? To think that the Regina you love would be giving up her darker self to be worthy of you, a Savior so transfixed by the darkness you threw yourself to it." The Queen neared Emma, mentally dared her to slap her or kiss her or both, but ever the incalulable, Emma just stood breathless, staring back at the Queen. "She'd rather destroy me, destroy parts of herself, than risk not being good enough for you." The Queen felt it, when they'd been reunited; felt Regina's yearning to be  _enough_ , to be  _good_ enough, and from where the Queen was standing in the mirror, the attempt seemed all too futile. 

     "Regina's battle with you has nothing to do with me, don't... don't say that." Shaking a feeling of dread off her shoulders, Emma turned her attention to papers she could push around on her desk; anything to keep her eyes off of the wrong Regina flinging harsh words at her, confusing the whole thing.

     As enemies, they'd learned each other, and as friends they co-parented, but... Emma swallowed the lump in her throat that there should be a but anything.

     "Well, Ms. Swan, if you care about _either_ of us, light or dark," the Queen waited to catch Emma's eye, she waited to watch the hitch in her breath as her lips parted, "it seems you'll be having to pick who's side you're on, sooner rather than later." Brandishing a pair of shined silver scissors from her dress pocket, with a soft shove the Queen left them on Emma's desk; with a final warning glare, the Queen swept her dress into a furl of magic, and disappeared.


	10. kissed by fate

  
     Regina kept the scissors in her lap, running her fingers over the cool metal, marvelling at the simplicity of it, the finality. Shrinking the Evil Queen down into the corners of herself had taken years, crushing her heart to dust had taken minutes, and then ultimately those battles came undone, leaving her face to face with her truly evil self.

     When Emma brought the scissors over, Regina felt relief, that the Queen had one last thing to give her; idly, comically, Regina wondered if the Queen wanted a goodbye from her, before their bond was really broken. The Savior had tried to insist she stay, they were dealing with unpredictable magic, in a world where all magic was unpredictable. The severing of parts of a person, that's what Emma had said, and the thought caught in Regina's head as she looked down to the pair of shears. Parts of a person; parts, implying the Queen made her whole.

     And once upon a time, Regina could see how that was true. How being the Queen, relying on her, had saved her when no one else would. How magic, dark magic, had protected her once, before her pain twisted in on itself. Catching her reflection in the scissors, Regina remembered when she'd see the Queen staring back at her, and she remembered hating her reflection. Now, losing the harsh make up, and fine, adding a few lines around her eyes- Regina looked at herself, and saw somebody's mother, somebody's friend; her father's daughter, after all this time.

     "So who gets Henry in the divorce?" The Queen taunted from over her shoulder, and Regina bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood. "Surely, you're not going to make _him_ choose, too. He loves me, too, you know." Pacing out in front of Regina, staring at her across the desk, the Queen licked her lips when her eyes settled on the scissors. "Our fates are still connected, Regina; so tell me, what did the Savior have to say to make you rethink separating us, even with your _freedom_ in your hands?"

    When Regina looked up, met her own eyes in the Queen's, she shook her head, showing a bit of teeth in her spiteful smile.

     "If you think Henry would choose you-"

     "He already did, remember?" The Queen charged into Regina's space, and snatched scissors from her head. "This town turned against me, against us, and knowing everything, Henry still chose to be _our_ son, and you can think it was because of you, but he always loved me, _too_. And as for some of Storybrooke now, there's a few people I can think of who don't mind the darkness." The Queen's tone cooled, as she retreated to pacing the mayoral office again, eyes critical over Regina, still.

     "What are you talking about?" Regina couldn't keep the scoff in her throat, and stood to level her height with the Queen's. "Everyone that loves me _overlooks_ you, don't you get that? Everyday I had to suppress the you in me to just survive here, let alone bring love into my life."

     The only face the Queen managed was a look of derision, even if Regina was finally proving herself amusing on some front.

     "Well, I guess I really am the better lover of the two of us, Regina; you know as well as I do, that that's not how love works, dear." The Queen's eyes softened, and she held the scissors out to Regina, again. "The Savior knows it, as well," She prompted, with a knowing look. "When your father loved you, he loved me, too. We were  _both_ his daughter. The Savior doesn't see us as halves, to be divided at all."

      _Parts of a person_ , that's what Emma had said; severing _parts of a person_.

     Regina cleared her throat, thinking about it; thinking about the possibility of it. "Emma, is too good to-"

     "The Savior understands darkness more than you think, Regina." Smoothing her thumb over Regina's identical lip scar, the Queen stepped closer, almost too close. "There can only be one of us, you know that, dear."

     Regina could feel the Queen's words on her lips, her breath on her cheeks, but she didn't pull back from her, she didn't pull away.

     "Would you miss me?" Softly, Regina asked, and the question seemed to stun the Queen into temporary silence, before she looked down to the scissors in Regina's hands.

     Regardless of every awful thing she'd done in her past, her son, her family, had come to love her anyway. Staring her evil self in the face, just breaths apart, Regina felt like she was gasping for air trying to figure out if she could- if she could love herself, wholly. For her part, the Queen seemed to be having similar thoughts.

     "I don't want to find out," Came the Evil Queen's soft reply, and tenderly she pressed her lips to Regina's, in a heated graze between mirror images, and magic spread it's way through Regina's chest, making her pull back from the Queen, at last.

     When she did, Regina was alone again, and when the throb of magic in her chest subsided, she felt, fuller, almost. Changed, heavier.

     A tentative finger to her lips, Regina felt the buzz of magic still there, the hum of everything being _different_ , and yet the same. She had memories from when Emma had been in the vault with the Queen, memories of Emma fighting tears at the stories the Queen told her of her past, of _their_ past. Sinking into her office chair again, scissors still in hand, Regina locked them in a desk drawer away from her sight, and couldn't help but cry for both of them, for all of herself, reunited with a kiss of magic that she couldn't regret. That she didn't. 


	11. One and The Same

     When Emma heard the click of kitten heels on linoleum, she quickly dropped the paperwork she'd been pretending to focus on, and jumped up at the sight of Regina in her office.

     "Are you-" Emma struggled with the words. _Alright_ , and _okay_ , sounded silly in the face of evil doppelgangers and troubled pasts. Leaving Regina to sever her own fate with the Queen had been difficult, especially knowing Regina meant to make sure the Queen never surfaced again, for good. "How are you? I... checked the vault last night, and it was empty, so I..." Again, Emma fidgeted her hands on her hips, wishing her pulse calm even as she could hear it throbbing in her ears. "Well, your place was dark, I figured you... didn't want to be disturbed." Emma's eyes couldn't help but scan Regina's face, for what she wasn't sure.

     This was the first step Regina had decided on, the easiest way to tell Storybrooke that the Queen would be staying, in her, forever. But Regina's voice caught in her throat, suddenly unsure for an absurdly long list of reasons. It was foolish, really, Emma's thoughts on the matter were what had tipped the scales for both Regina's, what made her want to be one in the first place- but if Emma was disappointed, if Emma was fearful... Regina steadied, reminding herself of the days the Savior had spent shut up in the vault, sharing tea with the Evil Queen in all her gem-encrusted-necklines and magically-enhanced eyelashes. More than kindness, more than openness, Emma had shown the Queen, even in her evillest of forms, _hope_ that someone, even someone as good as Emma, _could_ love her despite her marred past, despite the wrongs she'd inflicted on the world.

     That memory, of an Emma curled into herself, asleep with the Evil Queen in the room like she counted on being safe anyway, Regina couldn't help but thank the Evil Queen for; it bolstered her nerve in a way the Queen probably had never intended it to.

     "It's... me, Emma," Regina smoothed the ends of her blazer, shifting under Emma's questioning look. " _Me_ , me; all of me, whole again." With a careful eye, Regina watched Emma's face for a wince, or a mark of dread, but none came.

     Emma inhaled a breath, as Regina sighed one of relief. One Regina, whole again; Emma smiled, hopeful for both Regina's.

     "You two kissed and made up?" Emma joked, regretting it when Regina choked on air in response. "I'm.. I'm kidding, I'm so happy for you. All of you, really. I know, it's... not easy for you to live with, everything that... she's done-"

    " _I've_ done." Calmly, Regina interjected, an easy smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

    " _You've_ done," Emma corrected, "but you've changed, Regina. We all know that, we've all seen it. Henry, me, my parents; this whole town knows, you had to have known, too."

     Dragging her feet to goodness in the beginning, Regina remembered wanting her son above all else, wanting her son to love her above all else. Ruling Storybrooke like a kingdom for years before the Savior ever shoved her nose in destiny, Regina remembered. She remembered the growing pains of learning to co-exist here, with Emma, the Charmings, and now she comfortably co-existed even in her own skin.

    "I've certainly tried." Biting her lip to keep it from betraying emotions she couldn't help but feel, Regina thought of all the conversations Emma had with the Queen. How they'd been less guarded, even when Emma had been unsure of both of them.

    "You _have_ ," Reassuringly, Emma nodded, anchoring her hand to Regina's shoulder; a soft touch, that came easy, after weeks of flirting with evil.


	12. crushing on evil

     "Regina-" Emma faltered, fingers still curled over Regina's shoulder. "What she- you- what she said  _about_ you wanting to erase parts of yourself to... to get to be  _good_ enough..." Huffing a hot breath, Emma rolled her eyes at herself. "You're... you, both of you, all of you- I know those memories aren't easy, but, for better or worse, we love all of you." Finally taking her hand back, Emma couldn't stop hearing it- how Regina would've cut ties with the Queen-  _herself-_ to please them, or earn her happiness, or atone for things she was constantly atoning for.   
  
     "I just thought it'd be easier, somehow." Regina had to smile against Emma's wordlessness, and she met her eyes with purpose. " _We?"_ Emma could recognize the suggestive look on her face had gone just a shade more Evil Queen.  
  
     "Yeah, you know..." Emma shrugged, mouth gone dry, thinking about other things the Queen had said; other suggestive looks she'd worn. That kiss... "Storybrooke, Henry,... _me._ " She added softly, inching closer, looking anywhere but Regina otherwise she wouldn't get through it. " _I..._ love all of you, Regina, light, dark, and in between. How much you love Henry, how hard you've worked to-"  
  
     Reaching forward, cupping Emma's jaw and bringing her lips to her own, it wasn't the bruising, weapon of a kiss the Queen had taken, but a soft, silencing gesture to tell Emma she  _knew_ ; after months, years, of being to afraid to act on or name anything between them.  
  
     "Regina..."  
  
     Whispered against her lips, Regina couldn't remember a time when her name had sounded more like a prayer like that, sent shivers up her spine like that, made her want to sin like that. Fingers still curled against Emma's cheek, Regina eyed the tremble in Emma's lips, the desire in her eyes. "Is it the Queen in me thinking this'll give your mother a heart attack?" She smiled when Emma did.  
  
     "My mother? My father has had Hook in the Emma's-happy-ending pool, and he's gonna be sad to give that up." It was a joke, meant in chest, but when Regina's smile withdrew Emma pulled her closer. "Henry had you, though. In the pool, that is." Bringing her fingers to Regina's hand against her cheek, maybe the chaos of doppelgangers and magic and evil flirting were all worth it, for this moment, for this softness.   
  
     "Emma, I'm-" Regina went to pull back, as Emma's hand steadied her in place.   
  
    "You're the Evil Queen," she smiled, half-proud, half-dazed, "you're the Evil Queen, and you're Henry's mother, and you're mayor of Storybrooke, and I'm the orphan turned Savior who's been in love with all of you for quite some time." As fairytales go, Emma was sure this one was a little shaky... a little confusing, maybe one too many plot twists, but Regina's hand settled on Emma's shoulder, bringing her in for another kiss, and Emma figured to hell with fairy tales, anyway. Thumbing a tear from Regina's chin, in her eyes all Emma could see was dark, sparkling love, and maybe a little bit of magic.  
  
    "I'll always be someone who  _was_ a villain," Regina had settled that score with herself, literally. Deep in her, there would always be the Evil Queen, in all her withering glory, but she would be this Regina, too. Mayor, Henry's mother, Snow White's  _friend_ , Emma's... this.   
  
    "Yes," Emma nodded, so close to Regina their noses touched. "Though, I still don't think the Queen was really all that bad," Shrugging, Emma bit her bottom lip at Regina's scoff.   
  
    "Can't believe you had a crush on the Evil Queen, what kind of Savior even are you?" Regina teased, laughing through Emma's kiss. "Emma, she was  _evil_." Shaking her head, Regina felt her whole self in her chest, happy, loved; only evil in the past tense.  
  
     "It was still you!" Emma cried indignant, because that was the  _whole_ point; Regina in royal robes, Regina scowling, Regina in pantsuits playing with her son... Regina Regina Regina. 


End file.
